


Hesitant Kiss

by PhoenixofFire177



Series: Types of Kisses [3]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: (or is it), Consent!, Fluff, M/M, Nicknames, and then take over in a military coup, barba curses a lot, barba is overworked, carmen isnt there, did i mention the lack of angst?, feelings are avoided, like seriously man watch your mouth, mentions of the death threat incident, mind-numbing fluff, pre slash until its not, remember kids consent is important, sonny tries to help, thai food is left uneaten (aka sin), yeah well its gone for a bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 04:07:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11283426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixofFire177/pseuds/PhoenixofFire177
Summary: The type of kiss where their lips touch and brush against each other's a few times, breath fanning across each other's faces as one waits for the other to make a move.





	Hesitant Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy part three and the fluff bc it'll be a bumpy ride with the next four prompts or so.

For the first time in three weeks, Rafael Barba was truly stressed by a case. It wasn’t something he was proud of, but here he was. The file lay open on his desk, evidence sat scattered across his office, and an almost empty coffee pot taunted him from the machine. His clothes were in a similar state of disarray; his tie undone and his normally pristine shirt carried ink stains along the sleeves and wrinkles decorating the sides. His hair stood up slightly, his fingers having long mussed up the gel he had so carefully applied earlier that morning. This case just didn’t have any chance of winning. 

First the victim, a sweet girl but too unwilling to come forward, issued and reissued her statement no less than four times before it finally got to him. Then she tried to drop the charges after the man she identified had been taken to arraignment, a feat within itself seeing as the man ran all the way to Rhode Island before Rollins and Fin caught up. And now… now she wanted testify for her attacker. To make matters worse, she had tried to tamper with evidence and even influenced some of the jury causing the entire day to be declared useless. They’d have to start all over tomorrow. 

He sighed heavily before casting a glance at the clock. 11:30 P.M. He had less than 9 hours to find a solution to this mess. 

Sitting back down at his desk, he tried to focus on the report. A young woman, mid-twenties, assaulted while exiting a hardware store two blocks from her apartment. She sustained bruises along her wrists, internal tearing, and cigarette burns along her chest. Her rape kit came back positive for-

“Counselor? You awake in there?” 

Outside the doorway to his office, Detective Carisi leaned against the frame, arms laden with take-out from the nearby Thai place. His eyes were bright yet concerned, a look Rafael had been seeing more often than not as of late. At first it had bothered him. Did Carisi really think he was incapable of handling his job? The very idea was preposterous and especially unsettling. Of course, his actions began to reflect that sentiment. If he was especially brutal tearing down Carisi’s theories, no one said anything. That is, until the death threats started. Then he was incredibly grateful to have the blind support from the detective. It was grounding for him, allowing Rafael to work almost unaffected. And if he began to look forward to the time they spent together, well, it wasn’t as if anyone would find out. It was then it finally occurred to Rafael that he was staring. 

“Yes, detective, come on in.” 

He cursed himself silently as Carisi sauntered in. Hopefully the detective would interpret the zoning out as being overworked and not as anything else. A small, traitorous part of himself hoped that Carisi would see right through him. An even smaller, more traitorous part wanted the blue-eyed detective to act on it. Both parts were promptly shoved down so deep inside that neither would see light for months. Rafael watched as Carisi settled the take-out on his desk and perched next to it on the edge. 

Over the time they’d spent together while the threats were being investigated, Rafael had approached the detective on his affinity for opting to use tables for the same use as chairs. He’d noticed it at the precinct but there, he supposed, it was simply a level of comfort. But here? Rafael had reasonable doubt that Carisi was entirely comfortable in his office. Call it a hunch of sorts. But when he asked, the only answer he had gotten was a flippant ‘force of habit’. He could tell that Carisi wanted him to let it go but at the same time, he could see the posture shift. The detective became more guarded and stood up from where he sat on Rafael’s desk. So it was a comfort thing. It was then he realised that he wanted Carisi to be relaxed around him. The thought came out of nowhere and hit him like a tonne of bricks. God, did he actually want Carisi to like spending time with him? That would certainly explain his hurt when the detective moved away. And a bit of human contact was not going to be protested. But back to the present…

“Liv told me you’d be working late tonight and I know the case isn’t as airtight as you wanted it to be so I figured I’d swing by to help.” 

Carisi paused for a moment, seeming a bit uncertain for the first time since he’d entered the office. 

“That is if you want the help-”

“Sonny,” Rafael interrupted. “You brought food with you. I’m not going to kick you out just yet. “ 

Fucking nailed it. God, wasn’t he the best at making friends? However, before he could despair over his less-than-stellar-response, he was distracted. Carisi had that million watt smile decorating his face; the one that lit up any area he entered and made those baby blue eyes sparkle like there was some unspoken joke passing through the room. It warmed Rafael to the core, causing butterflies to erupt in his stomach and his heart rate to drastically increase. His palms started to sweat and Rafael tried to figure out what exactly he had done to deserve the full attention of that smile. Not that he was complaining. 

“You called me Sonny.”

Carisi teased, eyes glinting with mischief. 

“I knew I’d get one of you to crack one of these days.” 

oh.

Oh. 

OH.

That’s what this was about? A stupid nickname that, the more he thought about it, really did suit the tall Italian? Jesus. Rafael really was a lost cause. He supposed that they were close enough to be considered more than just coworkers but nicknames? Was that something they did? Was that something they could do? 

“Guess that means I get to call you Rafi now.”

Apparently so. Although maybe it was best to not let Car- Sonny get the upper hand. He raised an eyebrow in what he hoped was a casual display of disinterest. 

“Call me Rafi and I can assure you that you will not be welcome back in my office for quite some time, detective.” 

That stupid grin didn’t fade. 

“Why councilor, back to titles already? I thought we were having a moment back there!” 

Yes. Yes, they were having a moment. It was a moment Rafael wasn’t ready for. It was making him need to face his feelings. Who had time for that? They had a case to prepare, after all. Rising from his desk, he positioned himself in front of the detective in the hopes of continuing the work they were supposed to be doing. Instead, he found a plastic container of Pad Thai thrust into his face. 

“Detective,” He sighed. Carisi’s eyes flashed with minor notes of hurt and Rafael corrected himself unconsciously. “Sonny, what are you doing?” 

Carisi shrugged, still trying to pass off the food. 

“You can’t live solely off of caffeine. Besides, if you don’t eat now, Liv’ll just force you to eat later.” 

Once again, a flash of warmth passed through Rafael. Sonny was right, of course. But that didn’t mean he had to like it. He accepted the dish and set it on the centre table. Sonny continued to smile at him and Rafael realised just how far gone he was. 

He was in love with this detective. This caring, over-eager, loyal, dedicated, adorable detective… he was screwed, wasn’t he? And it wasn’t as if he had any choice in the matter either. Sonny had this way of carefully inserting himself into people’s lives in the most supportive role he could fill. He did so much for people and asked for nothing in return. Sonny deserved the world and instead… he focused his energy on caring for others. Rafael was slightly overwhelmed. His feelings mixed with his better judgement, clouding it severely. 

He approached Sonny, taking great care not to startle the detective. They ended up directly in front of each other, Sonny still perched on the desk and Rafael between his thighs. Blue eyes met brown and they paused. Rafael’s breath danced over Sonny’s semi-parted lips yet neither of them made any move to close the distance. Sonny, for his part, looked incredibly confused yet pleased. It was almost as if he wanted this series of events to play out. 

Rafael raised a hand and ran it through Sonny’s over-gelled hair before finally whispering out softly:

“Is this okay?” 

Sonny licked his lips and nodded, swallowing hard. Rafael couldn’t fight it anymore and closed the gap between them, using Sonny’s tie to pull him closer. Their lips brushed over each other's gently, hardly even lingering. Eventually Rafael had enough. 

Their lips met roughly, Rafael taking immediate control of the situation at hand. His detective didn’t have a problem with that at all, with the way he wrapped his legs around Rafael to keep him close. Somewhere in the tangle of their appendages, Rafael dimly remembered their case. He was going to have to return to work sometime. But looking into those darkening blue eyes and taking in the sight of Sonny’s kiss swollen lips, he had only one thought. 

Fuck the case. 

He had better things to do.


End file.
